PODCAST-Aambe Giigididaa Wiikwemkoong - Let's Talk Wiikwemkoong - Ep. 6

Aambe Giigididaa Wiikwemkoong - Let's Talk Wiikwemkoong is a talk show brought to you by Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territories' Kerry Assiniwe and FirstTelTC5 (Local Journalism Initiative).  It is a bi-weekly show, hosted by Kerry Assiniwe, where we will talk about different issues and stories concerning the Wiikwemkoong community.  This is a new venture of connecting with community members, whether living in Wiikwemkoong or elsewhere.  This show is a 'community voice' and we will be looking for show ideas to highlight the lives of Wiikwemkoong community members, events, culture, issues/concerns etc.

In this sixth episode of Aambe Giigididaa Wiikwemkoong - Let's Talk Wiikwemkoong, we talk to Patrick Fox.  Patrick is the Project Manager/Special Projects of the Mide Kaaning Project out of Wiikwemkoong's Lands and Natural Resources Department.  The Mide Kaaning Project is the oil and gas well reclamation and clean-up project in Wiikwemkoong, and Patrick discusses the history of the Wiky's oil wells and what is being done to clean up the mess left by industry over a century ago.

Although not common knowledge, Wiikwemkoong was a site of petroleum extraction in the mid to late 1800s.  Geologists found oil just as it was becoming a hot commodity around the world, and the oil industry tapped an unknown number of wells around the reserve.  As supplies dwindled, the wells were abandoned, without proper measures being made to clean up and cap these pipes (which can leak poisonous hydrogen sulfide gas).  Now it is up to Patrick and the Wiky Lands Department to find and map these abandoned wells, to ensure they are capped and monitored, and to ensure that future generations will know and remember where these sites are, and this important chapter in Wiikwemkoong's history.